The present disclosure relates generally to a clutch control system for a work vehicle.
In certain work vehicles, a clutch pedal or inching pedal is used to control engagement of a clutch for inching (e.g., for moving the work vehicle to connect to an implement) and for launch. Work vehicle transmissions typically have multiple forward gears (e.g., 16, 24, etc.) and the work vehicle may start from rest using various gears (e.g., depending on conditions). Also, an inching clutch may be connected to the transmission input, to the transmission output, or to a shaft between the input and output, such that the ratio from input to the inching clutch and/or the ratio from the inching clutch to the output may vary depending on the selected gear ratio. For inching, it is advantageous to have the same relationship between inching pedal position and transmission output torque regardless of the selected gear. For launch, it is advantageous to have the same relationship between inching pedal position and transmission input torque regardless of the selected gear, to maximize use of available engine torque without stalling or excessive lugging. If a single relationship between clutch pedal position and clutch torque is used for all gear ratios, the behavior of the tractor may be quite different while starting from different gear ratios. This is particularly objectionable if adjacent gears behave very differently. Accordingly, typical transmission controllers include multiple lookup tables for controlling the relationship of pedal position to inching clutch torque, with each table being associated with a respective gear ratio of the transmission. Unfortunately, creating the multiple tables for the respective gear ratios may be time-consuming and expensive.